The list, produced by MIT, listed other companies like SpaceX and Amazon at the top of the list, but neither could match the prowess of Nvidia.

"The list is our best guess as to which firms will be the dominant companies of the future. Amazon and Facebook and Google are on it, but so are plenty of newcomers," David Rotman wrote about the list.

The main advantage Nvidia has over its competition comes from the explosive growth in artificial intelligence.

As giant companies like Google and Apple try to develop their AI technologies, they often need huge data centers to speed along their research. Nvidia profits from this because these companies use its data-center and GPU chips when building and upgrading these centers. MIT says the company spent $3 billion to develop its new data-center chip, a bet that has paid off for the company. The company's chips are used by every major player in the AI game, according to Nvidia.

Though not mentioned by MIT, the exciting field of cryptocurrencies could be another big business for Nvidia. The company is rumored to be producing a cryptocurrency mining-specific chip that could help it capitalize on the hype around currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

All these areas have no doubt contributed to the companies impressive rise. Nvidia shares are up 37.51% this year. The company is also no stranger to MIT's smartest companies list, as it made an appearance in 2015 and 2016 as well.